Cossie Update Part 10… or something
Richard Nathan

Well it’s been an interesting past few weeks with the car, since at the beginning of this month, I had absolutely nothing to do on the car! It was misfiring slightly, but that wasn’t anything a set of new spark plugs didn’t sort out.

After having the car on the road, and actually enjoying it, I was able to give the car a proper 7 hour clean…. I kid you not! I went round the entire car, and it turns out that the front end paintwork has been damaged by being on track, so after taking it back to APVM for some proper touch up on the paint, it will be going back in to them for more work (see below).

All was going well, until I was using the car on Friday night of last week. Myself and the missus were out for dinner, and as we drove away from a nice London restaurant, the car cut out and died! Battery voltage was showing 8 volts, so out came the RAC to get me started and get me home. The guy who came out was a top chap, and kept me laughing all night… the real sarcastic type, but a fun lad nevertheless. He stuck a battery booster on the girlfriend’s lap, and ran the cable through the roof, and into the bonnet. A less than dignified exit from London…. In fact, we must have looked quite stupid…. but to be fair, I didn’t care too much, as I knew there was an empty house, two bottles of wine, and an appetite to satisfy… see, there are some things in life that are more important than cars !
Anyway, the RAC man had identified the alternator as being the problem, and suggested I get it changed first thing the next morning, so it was on the phone at 9 a.m. to Ford, to find a 90 amp alternator in stock at £160 exchange. The deal was done, and I rushed down to SCC Performance in St. Albans to get it fitted. Rob, the top man there, did the business in no time at all, and bearing in mind I arrived 1 minute before they closed, he did the job for very little cost. I would highly recommend SCC for any work relating to cosies and RSTs, since there’s always at least two or three RSs in at any time, and the quality of their work is second to none.
Unfortunately though, with the car up in the air, I noticed that the rear tyres were dangerously worn on the inside edges, even though they’d been okay only a few days previous. So it was off to my tyre supplier for some new 225/35/17s…... He didn’t have my usual Goodyear Eagle F1s, so I went for some Dunlop Sport 9000s. They seem to be just as good as the F1s in the dry, but my sideways launches, and unmodified rear beam mean they probably wont last that long! After the Pod on the Sunday, I had alternator problems again (see Pod article), and had the problem traced to a loose battery to alternator wire. It would appear that due to the severity of the launches and tramping at the Pod, the nut holding this lead on had actually undone, leaving the wire to flap free! The RAC man who rescued me on the Sunday night turned out to be a former cossie owner, and suggested a nylock nut on the alternator, which he duly fitted.
Also this month has been a month of electrical problems. I have no electric windows, and the cooling fans no longer work, the fuse having melted in the fusebox! As such, I have a new wiring loom on order, and am going to strip the interior out, and check all the wiring in the car. To rectify the fan situation, and still allow me to use the car, I wired up the fans to a 30 amp relay direct from the ignition, so that the fans are on permanently. This is only a temporary solution until I cure the problem.
The only other problem I have resting on my mind is the fact that my diff may well be on its last legs. I’ve been getting what appears to be massive clutch slip, but there’ a massive thud when the car engages properly, which leads me to believe it’s diff related. If I can afford it, I will be going for a Quaife diff, instead of replacing rear diffs time and again – prevention being better than the cure or something like that.
So the plans for the next few months are these:
I’m taking the car off the road for a while, and taking out the engine. The front end will be stripped down, taking out the entire front and including all the suspension, rack and power steering system, rad etc etc, and replacing everything for new or better. I have a new loom to go in, and will route this in a better manner than that originally specced for the car. Before the loom goes in, the car is going to be trailered to APVM to have the engine bay and boot floor rubbed down and sprayed, so that the car is minty mint come next show season. I have a few touches to be done with the paintwork on the front end after I hit something on the track at National Day (object, not car or barrier!). The entire engine will be stripped down and overhauled, replacing the oil and water pumps, all the belts, and all the metal bits for nice shiny chrome versions. The cam cover will be off to Mike R to be painted, and if there’s any money left in the bank, I may well ship the engine up to Harvey for something a bit extra ! I have to replace the fusebox, and rewire the inside of the car, which means ripping out the interior…. and no Charlie, you can’t buy the leather from me! I have to replace the entire power steering system, and am looking at some trick rally spec adjustable top mounts for the Bilstein coilovers I may have on the way. All nuts and bolts will be changed for new, as will all hoses and clips etc…… As such, the car may well be off the road for a good few months, but I want a magazine feature on the car, with 420 brake (can’t have Kev beating me), and it fully finished by the summer next year. Also, the wheels on the car will have to go, after many non-complimentary comments, but I may have a buyer for mine, so we will have to see…….
I’ll keep you all informed on how it goes…. Watch this space!